Smart Phone App Uses Facial Recognition To Find Lost Pets

Share this:

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM)-- The Fayetteville Animal Shelter is using new technology as a way to reunite lost dogs with their owners.

The smart phone application is called "Finding Rover," and it uses facial recognition technology to identify missing dogs.

Shelter manager Tony Rankin said they're using the free app in addition to micro-chipping, which is required by city ordinance.

"Even if they forgot to get their chip probably registered, forgot to update the information, Finding Rover is just kind of a back up," Rankin said.

The user simply takes a picture of the dog where both eyes can be seen, downloads the app and uploads the picture. The picture will be scanned against all the missing dog posts on the app.

Rankin said they receive lost dogs daily, and they've already seen success with Finding Rover.

"Some of these you see here are ones we've already uploaded that were lost," Rankin said, "Some of these have already been returned to their owners."

Rank said the app currently only works for dogs, but said developers are releasing new software for cat facial recognition in mid-2016. The application is available for Windows, Androids and Apple devices. There is also a desktop version.